“Profit I” by Jean-Michael Basquiat reminds me of InvisibleMan. For me, principal figure in the painting represents the main character in the book. The color of his skin is almost the same color as the background; if it weren’t for the brightness of his shirt, he would blend right in. This reminds me of the first chapter of Invisible Man, in which the protagonist tells us that he likes to be surrounded by light bulbs so that he knows that he exists: I feel like the main figure in the painting is wearing a bright orange shirt for the same reason. Despite these efforts at standing out, the edges of his outline are blurred, further making him seem “invisible.” Additionally, his surroundings are extremely chaotic, and the position of his hands shows a sense of helplessness; he seems at the mercy of the environment. This is a similar situation to the main character of Invisible Man, who seems to be caught in the middle of everything going on around him.
"Carry On, My Wayward Son" reminds me of the second quote from Invisible Man. The protagonist talks about optimism, and in the rest of the epilogue, describes his new outlook on life. The lines "On a stormy sea of moving emotion / Tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean" remind me of the chaos of the painting (and thus, the chaos of the book) -- the message of the song is that we all must continue moving along through this chaos and through life. Things will eventually calm down and you'll reach that peace. I feel like that is what the main character in Invisible Man has done; in the epilogue, he expresses a sense of identity and self-assuredness.
"Profit I" by Jean-Michael Basquiat (1951).
"Carry On, My Wayward Son" by Kansas (1976).
Invisible Man.
“Profit I” by Jean-Michael Basquiat reminds me of Invisible Man. For me, principal figure in the painting represents the main character in the book. The color of his skin is almost the same color as the background; if it weren’t for the brightness of his shirt, he would blend right in. This reminds me of the first chapter of Invisible Man, in which the protagonist tells us that he likes to be surrounded by light bulbs so that he knows that he exists: I feel like the main figure in the painting is wearing a bright orange shirt for the same reason. Despite these efforts at standing out, the edges of his outline are blurred, further making him seem “invisible.” Additionally, his surroundings are extremely chaotic, and the position of his hands shows a sense of helplessness; he seems at the mercy of the environment. This is a similar situation to the main character of Invisible Man, who seems to be caught in the middle of everything going on around him.
"Carry On, My Wayward Son" reminds me of the second quote from Invisible Man. The protagonist talks about optimism, and in the rest of the epilogue, describes his new outlook on life. The lines "On a stormy sea of moving emotion / Tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean" remind me of the chaos of the painting (and thus, the chaos of the book) -- the message of the song is that we all must continue moving along through this chaos and through life. Things will eventually calm down and you'll reach that peace. I feel like that is what the main character in Invisible Man has done; in the epilogue, he expresses a sense of identity and self-assuredness.
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